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Syapse snaps up VC to treat 'omics' data deluge

Entrepreneurs keep mining for gold with new apps that help clinics and labs overwhelmed with genomic data. Syapse has struck a venture deal with The Social+Capital Partnership, raising $3 million from the firm in a Series A round as the company mounts a big push to address the growing needs of physicians grappling with "omics" data.

The Palo Alto, CA-based upstart, founded by Stanford University cronies in 2008, has also revealed that its output has grown "exponentially" since the launch of its Syapse Discovery software. With some flagship customers using the software, the company says its technology is processing 3,000 genomes per quarter. And its repository of omics and clinical data has grown to more than 10 terabytes.

A key to the company's semantic platform is its ability to integrate different types of data from hospital records, DNA sequencing and other sources. The cloud-based software has already found action in diagnostic applications of genomics data at companies such as Foundation Medicine and InVitae. And now the company is aiming to expand the application of its technology to help physicians pull together data, including clinical and genomic information, from disparate sources.

"Physicians are drowning in omics information. Syapse is going to be the company that solves their omics problem," Jonathan Hirsch, founder and president of Syapse, told FierceBiotechIT in an interview. "The company that is going to win in this space is the one that bridges the gap from a set of diagnostic data generated to the physician, and Syapse is going to be that company."

Integrating different types of data could assist physicians in tying genetic variants to specific diseases. Genomics is also expected to play a major role in matching patients to the safest and most effective drugs for their illnesses.

Syapse previously raised $1.6 million in seed money, so this first-round financing brings its total to $4.6 million.

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